Dzelarhons: Myths of the Northwest Coast

Janet Money is a writer and policy analyst for the Canadian Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation in Toronto.

Before the world divided into islands large and small, the one huge landmass was balanced on the back of Frog Woman.

Or so it was according to Anne Cameron’s fables of British Columbia’s northwest coast Native peoples. Eight of the fables are collected in Dzelarhons; most of them have a feminist slant.

The title story tells of a mythical miracle worker who advised people as First Mother, Frog Mother and Copper Woman. The heroine of “The Bearded Woman” became hirsute and muscular to avoid losing her inheritance to unwanted suitors.

Motherhood is celebrated in “Orca’s Child” and “Ta-Naz Finds Happiness.” The conniving Raven gets his come-uppance in two stories. “Lazy Boy” and “Muddlehead” makes points and prejudices.

Cameron’s follow-up to Daughters of Copper Woman is a woman-positive and humorous collection of thought-provoking and entertaining myths.